Litigation, activism, and the paradox of lawfulness in an age of climate change

Climate change litigation, in which activists argue that legal doctrines and existing legislation should be applied to achieve either climate change mitigation or adaptation outcomes, has become an increasingly common occurrence in Western courtrooms.¹ But the wisdom of resorting to legal rules, which reflect values and principles antithetical to those held by many climate change activists, has been questioned.² As a well-entrenched form of cultural performance, litigation may struggle to challenge established codes of behaviour and values that have contributed and continue to contribute to anthropogenic climate change; in fact, climate change litigation has even been seen as supporting and reinforcing such codes and values.³